Zhen Hua said, “It’s me, your uncle-master who dragged you guys into this. Let’s consider this to be a little compensation for you. Your mecha’s in there.”
Tang Wulin was immediately shocked by this. He knew exactly what Zhen Hua meant when he said his mecha was “in there”. It meant that the ring’s storage was enough to contain his yellow mecha! It was such a precious treasure. A spatial ring of that level was extremely rare across the entire continent.
“Uncle-master, this is priceless. I can’t take it.” Tang Wulin attempted to reject the gift.
Tang Wulin looked distraught at first. “Alright then, you guys can leave now.”
Tang Wulin chuckled. “I’ll take it then!”
Zhen Hua could not hold back any longer and laughed out loud. “You little miser, get lost now!”
Tang Wulin and Gu Yue got out of the car and ran toward the academy immediately. They still had to attend class.
Zhen Hua’s expression became serious again as he watched them leave. He then said to the driver, “Go to the inner court.”
The vehicle ascended once more. Although they were already in the Shrek Academy area, nobody could stop them from doing that. The flying car sped up and arrived at the Shrek Academy’s inner court within a few blinks, stopping outside of the entrance. Zhen Hua got out of the car, taking long strides as he walked toward the inner court.
His high-altitude flying car could access almost anywhere on the continent, but not here. It was the Shrek Academy’s inner court, so he would have to get out of the car as a show of respect to Shrek.
Zhen Hua began to walk instead of fly when he arrived at the side of Sea God’s Lake.
Floating on the water’s surface, he reached the shore of the Sea God’s Island in a matter of moments.
There, he stopped walking and waited in silence.
It did not take long for someone to walk out of the Sea God’s Island. Surprisingly, it was Scarlet Dragon Douluo Zhuo Shi.
“Let’s go. The Pavilion Master is waiting for you,” Zhuo Shi said to Zhen Hua with a nod.
Zhen Hua nodded slightly in reply. With Zhuo Shi leading the way, they walked into the Sea God’s Island.
At the center of the Sea God’s Island stood a huge wooden house built leaning against an enormous tree. It could be said that this building was not only the core of the island, but also of the Shrek Academy, and in fact the nucleus of Shrek City.
For this golden house leaning against the large tree was the seat of the island’s highest authority, the Sea God Pavilion!
The Sea God Pavilion Master was the real grandmaster of the Shrek Academy.
He was among the most powerful and influential in the land, one of the few possessing such a position.
Even the federation would ask for the Sea God Pavilion Master’s opinion when there were important decisions to be made. The reason was simple: power.
The interior of the wooden house was austere. If an outsider were to visit, they would never expect the Sea God Pavilion — home of one reputed to be the most powerful — to be so simple.
There were already eight people sitting on both sides of the long wooden table. Once the master seat was filled, there were nine altogether.
Zhuo Shi gestured to Zhen Hua to sit. It was clear that it was not Zhen Hua’s first time here as he walked to the last seat on the table and took his place. Zhuo Shi entered and sat on the fourth seat on the left.
If Tang Wulin had been there, he would have been surprised to find the young man who was sitting on the master seat. It was the young man that he had seen before, the one who had accompanied Holy Spirit Douluo on the swing. He looked like he was just 27 or 28 years old but he was handsome and wore a gentle smile on his face.
However, every single person of importance from the Shrek Academy in attendance looked at him with absolute respect.
Yali sat on the first seat to his right while there was a tall old man with a big, round face and a massive body sitting on the other side.
Feng Wuyu was there as well, seated across from Scarlet Dragon Douluo Zhuo Shi. Meanwhile, Elder Cai sat next to Feng Wuyu.
Yes, those who presented themselves before him were the true leaders of Shrek Academy, the Sea God Pavilion Elders.
The person who was sitting on the master seat was the highest leader of the Sea God Pavilion, the Sea God Pavilion Master of the generation.
“Your Highness.” Zhen Hua bowed at the Sea God Pavilion Master respectfully.
The Sea God Pavilion Master smiled slightly and gestured at him. Zhen Hua then sat down. Although he was the only Divine Craftsman present, he dared not show his pride before the Sea God Pavilion Master.
He had yet to be born when the Sea God Pavilion Master conquered the continent in the past. This Master was known as the first among experts in today’s Douluo Continent. He was considered to be the apex of humanity. It was said that if the Douluo Continent had been able to sense the presence of the Divine Realm, he would have been elevated to the position much earlier.
Under his leadership, the Shrek Academy was as stable as Mount Tai. The powerful federation government did not dare to treat them with disdain. The independence of Shrek City came from the power of the Sea God Pavilion.
“Zhen Hua, please tell us more about the situation,” the Sea God Pavilion Master said with a smile on his face. There would never be a Sea God Pavilion meeting for minor matters. It would only be held when something major happened.
Zhen Hua nodded and told the complete story of his encounter with the assassin, Tang Wulin being captured by the evil soul master later on, and his bringing them back to the association.
“Do you have any recording of the battle?” The Sea God Pavilion Master asked.
“Yes.” Zhen Hua stood up and took out a metal staff. He pressed it lightly and a stream of light projected from the staff onto the wall. The light was a video showing what he managed to capture at that time.
Every one of the Sea God Pavilion Elders were deep in thought as they watched it.
“Yes, there was an intense fight there. According to what Tang Wulin said, the evil soul master’s expertise is sucking blood to the point where her cultivation base might be near or already at Hyper Douluo level. The person who saved Tang Wulin must possess extraordinary power to have managed to chase the evil soul master away,” Elder Cai said while frowning.
The Sea God Pavilion Master said two simple words as he squinted. “Duskgold Dreadclaw.”
The faces of all the elders in attendance were aghast when they heard those words.
Holy Spirit Douluo Yali looked at him in a gentle manner. “But a Duskgold Dreadclaw is rare! Moreover, I’ve never heard about any soul masters who managed to cultivate Duskgold Dreadclaw to such a level.”
The Sea God Pavilion Master looked like he was deep in thought as well. “Yes, as far as I know, there is no such person but it has to be Duskgold Dreadclaw, and the cultivation base has to be above Hyper Douluo. Look at that. The marks that they left from the fight were not just scratches. Even the soil and the rocks around them were turned into powder. That’s the sign of peak cultivation of the Duskgold Dreadclaw. Zhuo Shi, if I am not mistaken, Tang Wulin has the Duskgold Dreadclaw ability as well. Is that correct?”
Zhuo Shi nodded. “It’s a little different from the Duskgold Dreadclaw. He combined the force of his own bloodline and calls it Golden Dragon Dreadclaw. But his ability comes from the spirit ascension platform. Do you suspect that the soul master who saved them might be someone from the Spirit Pagoda?”
The Sea God Pavilion Master nodded slightly. “We can’t exclude that possibility. A powerful soul master that we are completely unaware of most likely came from the Spirit Pagoda. They’ve been more and more secretive in recent years.”
Due to the spirit soul requirements of the soul masters, the Spirit Pagoda had accumulated a massive fortune and their power was expanding at great speed. In addition, during recent years, artificial spirit souls had been developed to such an extent that it granted more soul masters a chance to possess powerful spirit souls. It had skyrocketed the Spirit Pagoda’s position. All this had proved the saying — you can do anything when you’re rich.
“That’s possible. Gu Yue is the core disciple of the Spirit Pagoda while Heavenly Phoenix Douluo is her teacher.” Elder Cai subconsciously looked at Holy Spirit Douluo Yali when he said that.
Yali was a little stunned when she heard the name of Heavenly Phoenix Douluo.
An unnatural emotion flashed across the Sea God Pavilion Master’s eyes. Although he managed to suppress it immediately, the entire room of the generation’s finest, including Zhen Hua, noticed it. They could not help but secretly laugh inside. Rumor had it that the Sea God Pavilion Master had a history with the Spirit Pagoda’s vice chairman, Heavenly Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu; perhaps there was some truth to these rumors?
The Pavilion Master coughed. “I’ll confirm about that with the Spirit Pagoda. Now let’s talk about the evil soul master,” the Sea God Pavilion Master said in all seriousness.